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The play begins with a street brawl between two families: the Montagues and the Capulets. The Prince of Verona, Escalus, intervenes with his men and declares that the heads of the two families will be held personally accountable for any further breach of the peace. Later, Count Paris, a young nobleman, talks to Lord Capulet about marrying his thirteen-year-old daughter Juliet. Capulet is wary of this offer, citing the girl´s young age, but still invites him to try to attract Juliet´s attention during a ball that the family is to hold that night. Juliet´s mother tries to persuade her daughter to accept Paris´ courtship during this ball, leading Juliet to say that although she will make an effort to love him, she will not express love if it is not there. In this scene Juliet´s nurse is introduced as a talkative and humorous character, who raised Juliet from infancy.

In the meantime, a young man named Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Lord Montague´s son, over Romeo´s recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited love for a girl named Rosaline, one of Lord Capulet´s nieces who has sworn herself to chastity. Upon the insistence of Benvolio and another friend, Mercutio, Romeo decides to attend the masquerade ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. Alongside his masked friends Romeo attends the ball as planned, but falls in love with Juliet (forgetting about Rosaline) and she with him. Despite the danger brought on by their feuding families, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet courtyard and overhears Juliet on her balcony vowing her love to him in spite of her family´s hatred of the Montagues. Romeo soon makes himself known to her, and the two declare their love for each other and agree to be married. With the help of the Franciscan Friar Lawrence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children´s union, they are married secretly the next day.

All seems well until Tybalt, Juliet´s hot-blooded cousin, challenges Romeo to a duel for appearing at the Capulets´ ball in disguise. Though no one is aware of the marriage yet, Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt since they are now part of the same family. Mercutio is incensed by Tybalt´s insolence, and accepts the duel on Romeo´s behalf. In the ensuing scuffle, Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo tries to separate them. Romeo, angered by his friend´s death, pursues and slays Tybalt, then flees.

Despite his promise to call for the head of the wrongdoers, the Prince merely exiles Romeo from Verona, reasoning that Tybalt first killed Mercutio, and that Romeo merely carried out a just punishment of death to Tybalt, although without legal authority. Juliet grieves at the news, and Lord Capulet, misinterpreting her grief, agrees to engage her to marry Paris with the wedding to be held in just three days. He threatens to disown her if she refuses. The nurse, once Juliet´s confidante, now tells her she should discard the exiled Romeo and comply. Juliet desperately visits Friar Lawrence for help. He offers her a drug, which will put her into a death-like coma for forty-two hours. She is to take it and, when discovered apparently dead, she will be laid in the family crypt. While she is sleeping the Friar will send a messenger to inform Romeo, so that he can rejoin her when she awakens.

The messenger, however, does not reach Romeo. Romeo then learns of Juliet´s ´death´ from his servant Balthasar. Grief-stricken, he buys poison from an apothecary, returns to Verona in secret, and visits the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris who has come to mourn Juliet privately. Paris confronts Romeo believing him to be a vandal, and in the ensuing battle Romeo kills Paris. He then says his final words to the comatose Juliet and drinks the poison to commit suicide. Juliet then awakens. Friar Lawrence arrives and, realizing the cause of the tragedy, begs Juliet to leave. She refuses, and at the side of Romeo´s dead body, she stabs herself with her lover´s dagger.

The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead. In explanation Friar Lawrence recounts the story of the two lovers. Montague reveals that his wife has died of grief after hearing of her son´s exile. The families are reconciled by their children´s deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with the Prince´s brief elegy for the lovers: ´For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.´

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